Reading Strategies
General Tips:
 Sit side-by-side with the book in front of you so you both can see the words and pictures.
 Be sure to model everything you ask of your student.
 Point out the words as you read aloud.
 Clap out syllables.
 If your student misses five words on the same page, the book is probably too difficult.
Phoneme (Sound) Tips
 Using a bag of objects, pull one object out of the bag. Ask your student to identify the object. Ask
him/her what sound he/she hears at the end of the word. Have your student make the sound (e.g.,
/r/ for car).
 When your student comes to a word that he/she doesn’t know, do not supply the word. Instead, ask
him/her to sound out the word or use the prompts on page 8 of your EveryBody Reads© manual (blue
book).
 Place a piece of paper partially over the word as your student sounds the word out.
 Make a list of words that rhyme with the difficult word after your student reads the missed word
correctly.
Fluency
 Make a list of the words that give your student difficulty. After your session, create flash cards of
those words to use during your next visit.
 As you listen to your student read, check to see that he/she is stopping at periods, pausing at commas
and reading questions correctly. These are small things you can demonstrate correctly for the
student when you read aloud to him/her.
 Echo Reading – read a paragraph of a book and then have your student read the paragraph back to
you.
Sight Words
 A list of sight words can be found at http://www.quiz-tree.com/Sight-Words_main.html or contact
the VIPS office and we will send you a set.
 Help your student make flashcards using the sight words.
 Give your student a set of flashcards to practice between your visits.
 End your session each time by practicing a set of sight words. Work towards getting all of the words
right by the end of the month or year.
Reading Comprehension
 Work on meaning. Just because your student can say a word doesn’t mean that he/she knows what it
means. Ask him/her to use the word in a sentence. If he/she doesn’t know, explain what the word
means and use it correctly in a sentence to help.
 Ask your student to draw a picture of what was just read or to demonstrate what one word means.
 After you finish a passage, ask your student to describe what happened in the story or to describe a
new ending of the story.